"And regardless we gon never put a car on the streets
'less them gas prices lower and the parking is free
And no parka for me
Not even gloves scarves or a fleece
I may freeze but I'll keep savin marvellously... holla!"

Some others have been mentioned already, Nas, Andre 3000. I'd also say early Eminem, his verse on Renegade on the Blurprint is killer.

I thought that when GZA was mentioned above. Good lyricist but his delivery isn't anything special. Unless you like monotone raps delivered at a steady pace? Probably every other Wu member has a better flow than GZA.

I posted AZ, Andre 3000, Ghostface & Aesop Rock. I don't think either artist have my #1 favourite flow, but they all deserve a mention for bringing something fresh to the table. Kool G Rap would never spit like Aesop Rock or DOOM & if someone prefers their style they may just consider them the GOAT.

It'd be boring if we just posted Rakim & Kool G Rap at the beginning of the thread & settled on that, especially when many people aren't huge on early new school stuff.

I just think it became a who's your favorite hip-hop act thread without much thought as to who actually has a masterful flow. Like Edan or El-P? I'm not with that. Even Jeru, dude is pretty sloppy flow-wise but makes up for it in lyrical creativity and confidence. 3000 is a little clumsy on the mic imo, still have love for him, mind.

Not that everyone should just come in here and 'this' G Rap or Rakim, that WOULD be lame. Its just that I don't agree with a lot of these and wanted to get some debate started, cos its more fun.

Some of my favorite stuff has complete disregard for flow and normal standards of raps fundamentals. Sometimes I just want to hear a guy yell nonsensical goon-isms over a beat that makes my head cave in, sometimes I just want outrageous amounts of puffed-up aggression and sometimes I just want to listen to E-40 who... well... I have no idea how to class him, but he's great on all fronts.

I think TheShipment is more or less right about what constitutes and amazing flow, and with that in mind I have deliberatley not posted some of my favourite MCs who have other things that make them great, not necessarily a great flow. That said, Edan and Kool Keith are the definitions of that little checklist you mentioned.

So given that we are talking who has the best flow, not the best overall MC, Nicki Minaj has an absolutely amazing technical level of skill, but wastes it most of the time by appearing on absolute shit. Her verse on Monster where she destroyed Kayne and Jay-Z proved that

early Kool Keith was pretty top notch, his stuff on Critical Beatdown is pure. His later solo stuff was more sloppy and insane, but with that came more fun and higher spots of brilliance. Judging his whole body of work is tough to do.